James M Matour

- Bankruptcy, Insolvency & Creditors' Rights

- Mergers & Acquisitions

James M. Matour is Senior Counsel at Dilworth Paxson LLP, where he concentrates his practice in corporate reorganization, bankruptcy, and commercial workouts. With more than 40 years of experience, Jim represents debtors, creditors, and other parties in bankruptcy cases and has extensive experience with mergers and acquisitions of both healthy and distressed businesses.

Jim's approach begins with identifying a workable business solution to a distressed situation, then using legal strategy, whether negotiation, refinancing, a sale of the enterprise, or a Chapter 11 filing, to carry that plan through.

He guided a distressed non-profit school for students with special needs through a rapid downsizing, arranging a $1 million bridge loan within a week and negotiating a sale to a for-profit operator, including expedited Attorney General approval, to avoid the school's closure. He has represented a large commercial printer through a series of out-of-court restructurings and refinancings spanning 20 years, and guided a domestic manufacturer of specialized sporting goods through a restructuring, refinancing, and ultimately a successful sale. He also represented the founder of a multi-state behavioral health institution in a highly contested Chapter 11 case that reduced the company's debt and left the founder as sole owner.

Jim's community leadership includes service on the Board of Directors of the Union League of Philadelphia, as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PYO Music Institute (formerly the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra), and on the boards of the Abraham Lincoln Foundation, the Consumer Bankruptcy Assistance Project, and the Philly Pops. Jim has been recognized as a leader in Bankruptcy/Restructuring by Chambers USA since 2006, listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 2007, named a Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyer since 2020, and was named Philadelphia "Lawyer of the Year" in Bankruptcy Law in 2021.

- Guided a financially distressed non-profit school for students with special needs through a rapid downsizing, arranging a $1 million bridge loan within a week and negotiating a sale to a for-profit operator, including expedited Attorney General approval, to avoid the school's closure.

- Successfully reorganized a full-service pet business through Chapter 11, confirming a plan that reduced the secured lender's claim by more than 30% while the founders retained control.

- Represented a large commercial printer operating in a continually shrinking market through a series of out-of-court restructurings and refinancings over a 20-year period, achieving substantial debt relief in each round.

- Represented a domestic manufacturer of well-known, specialized sporting goods through a business restructuring, refinancing, and ultimately a successful sale of the enterprise.

- Aggressively represented a non-institutional creditor in the Chapter 11 case of a specialized defense contractor with little liquidation value, winning the right to propose a competing reorganization plan that resulted in the creditor being paid in full with interest and awarded substantial fees and expenses.

- Represented the founder and co-owner of a nationally prominent, multi-state residential and outpatient behavioral health institution in a highly contested Chapter 11 case, achieving substantial debt reduction and leaving the founder as sole owner without additional cash investment.

Pennsylvania

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania